With the presence of President Luis Lacalle Pou, the Olimar Forest Products wood veneer plant was inaugurated on Thursday, March 21, 2024. This project, developed by AF, represents a milestone in the forestry chain, promoting local economic development by generating more than 45 direct jobs and nearly 100 indirect jobs.
The construction of this factory involved two and a half years of work and an investment of 7 million USD. With a production capacity of 40,000 cubic meters of sheets per year, exports are expected to reach 14 million USD.
Olimar Forest Products was developed to add value to the products sold by Bosques del Uruguay 4, generating greater efficiency in the transport of forest products and allowing access to new export markets.
Francisco Bonino, director of AF, highlighted the solidity of the forestry sector, which after decades of work and investment in the area is one of the main productive engines of the country: “This stage makes visible an amount of work that was done before, which is a lot and very important; Today we are inaugurating a plant whose main input requires 20 years to prepare, imagine the planning that this business requires.”
Bonino recalled AF’s journey in the forestry industry, from its beginnings in 2007 managing forests for a U.S. investment fund to the launching of the first financial trust in 2011. In 2019, the Bosques del Uruguay 4 trust was created, with an investment of 330 million USD by the local pension funds.
“Those investors were able to see well in advance that the forest in Uruguay could generate renewable wood of the highest quality that was going to replace the native forests that the world can no longer cut; they detected that there was an opportunity to continue adding value to wood, but that step required more investment effort, innovation and also taking risks” Bonino added.
The 4 Bosques del Uruguay funds (BDUs), managed by AF, have invested more than 650 million USD and play a fundamental role in the forestry sector, supplying more than 1 million cubic meters of wood per year to pulp mills, local sawmills, and exports, which exceed 26 million USD.
In addition to their economic impact, Uruguay’s forests contribute to the conservation of the environment and the well-being of local communities. With 9,000 hectares dedicated to the conservation of habitats and ecosystems, as well as community development programs that benefit more than 21,000 people, these forests also capture 900,000 tons of carbon per year, promoting carbon neutrality in Uruguay.